Secret Committees on Uniate Affairs and Their Role in the Abolition of the Union

The article focuses on the activities of the secret committees during the reign of Nicholas I, which were specifically established to address issues related to the reunification of Uniates in the western provinces of the Russian Empire during the first half of the 19th century. In the majority of studies on the history of reunification, the activities of the secret committees are typically discussed only in broad terms. Frequently, the question of their role in the reunification process remains unresolved. This ambiguity enables historians and publicists to interpret the activities of the committees according to their religious, national, or ideological perspectives. Hence, Catholic historians tend to highlight the mere existence of such committees as evidence of the forced annexation of the Uniates. They often portray the committees as sinister and mysterious agency of the Russian government. This perspective can be attributed to the bitterness of defeat for Catholicism in the events of 1839, but it lacks fairness from a historical standpoint. The article explores the emergence of secret committees during the reign of Nicholas I, focusing specifically on the secret committees dedicated to Uniate affairs.   In the historiography of reunification, there is a prevailing opinion that there existed a singular secret committee on Uniate affairs, whose activities persisted intermittently from 1834 to 1839. In reality, there were several secret committees, each distinct in name, composition, and the nature of the issues they addressed. A review of their activities and an analysis of preserved archival sources and historiographical material indicate a lack of nearly any continuity and consistency in their operations. The secret committees, the sole official bodies established by the Government of the Russian Empire to oversee the reunification of Uniates with Orthodoxy, were formed as needed to deliberate and devise solutions to the challenges arising at particular historical junctures in the reunification process. Upon examining the outcomes of the secret committees’ endeavors, it becomes evident that these committees did not serve as architects or implementers of a comprehensive, long-term policy regarding the Uniate Church in the Russian Empire. Instead, they sporadically engaged in the reunification process. Therefore, the assertion that the reunification of the Uniates constituted violence against their religious conscience, orchestrated and executed solely by the forces of the government of the Russian Empire, is unfounded.

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